No on Prop. A: It's awful

On June 5, voters in San Diego will be asked to weigh in on Proposition A, which would ban the city from requiring the use of project labor agreements on construction projects unless such a ban would cause the loss of state or federal funds. PLAs, as the deals are commonly known, require that employers follow union compensation and classification policies when dealing with their workers. Below is an edited, condensed transcript of an interview with opponents Tom Lemmon of the San Diego County Building and Construction Trade Councils; consultant Mike Madrid; Murtaza Baxamusa of the Family Housing Corp.; and Jim Conway of the California Construction Industry Labor Management Cooperation Trust.

Q: Why is Proposition A bad public policy?

LEMMON: It limits agencies’ ability to make decisions for taxpayers. A project labor agreement is nothing more than a tool for construction management. But when you start taking tools off the table, you say, “Hey, you know what? You got to dig that ditch now with two rocks instead of a shovel,” and that’s really what they’re doing is because some projects really make sense to use project labor agreements – not all, some.

MADRID: The most peculiar part about this is the city of San Diego has never used a PLA in a municipal contract. There’s no public policy problem being addressed here, none.

LEMMON: Most people don’t even understand what a PLA is. It really is just an agreement for a basic set of rules. Everybody starts at seven o’clock, everybody gets a break at noon to 12:30, and overtime will be paid after a certain hour. What bothers the contractor associations is it makes sure that everybody works in their classification. So what happens on a lot of public works projects is the contractor looks at the wage sheet put out by the Department of Industrial Relations which says how much each craft gets paid and he goes, “Damn. I don’t want to pay a plumber, looks like it’s a $50 package. Why don’t I use the laborer’s package and just say he’s a laborer for $29?” And that’s what happens. But under a PLA, if it’s a plumber doing the work, then he needs to get paid plumber’s wages.

Q: Advocates say the claim that PLAs ensure local hiring isn’t true. They cite San Diego Unified’s experience with PLAs on Prop S projects and the lack of local contractors and subcontractors in bidding.

LEMMON: A project labor agreement has nothing to do with contractors, it has to do with the workforce, and it talks about where the workforce comes from or what the workforce looks like or where the workforce is dispatched from. Their argument is apples and oranges.

Q: Advocates say PLAs mean there’s less competition, so the price goes up because there are always fewer bids.